Southerland: Shutdown fight a ‘moral issue’

Published: Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 10:39 PM.

Southerland, however, maintained the House has passed a budget every year he’s held the seat.

“The fact is, each and every year we have passed a budget, but it has been Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats who have refused to do so,” Southerland said.

Southerland noted the country has instead been operating through a continuing resolution with what he called “ridiculously irresponsible” spending limits.

“We are going bankrupt,” he said. “That’s where we are.”

In response to Graham’s pay challenge, Southerland said he also has co-sponsored a bill to withhold his Congressional pay during the shutdown.

Southerland urged people to connect with his office and other lawmakers to weigh in on the issue.

“I think when you fight for a principle that every American should be treated equally, I think that’s a moral issue,” he said. “What happens to America if we become a country where we have special interests? Freedom doesn’t look like that.”

PANAMA CITY — For U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, the federal government shutdown is a fight to hold every American to the same standard under the country’s new health care law.

Along with the House Republican majority, Southerland, R-Panama City, has backed resolutions to eliminate Affordable Care Act subsidies for members of Congress and delay the individual mandate for a year to avert a government shutdown. Democrats have said they will not negotiate until the government is reopened and the debt limit raised.

Southerland said the Democratic-controlled Senate’s rejection of the proposal and refusal to negotiate is setting a dangerous precedent for the country.

“That is a glaring statement to America that we know you’re in pain, we know you’re hurting, but we don’t have to step down in your pain with you,” Southerland said. “That is unacceptable.”

The sophomore congressman cited Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid’s actions as a refusal to believe in the principles of democracy and the nation at large.

“I think it’s very germane to the existence of our republic that no one receive special treatment and we hold everyone to the same standard,” he said. “I think this is very critical to how we move forward in this country.”

As the blame game continues in Washington, Southerland, too, questioned the motives of the Democratic Party, stating he believed they wanted the government to shut down.

“It’s kind of like committing a crime and planting someone else’s fingerprints on the weapon,” he said. “It’s called framing someone.”

Amid the finger-pointing, Democratic political action committees (PACs) used the shutdown to label Republicans as irrational and irresponsible.

House Majority PAC, a group working to help Democrats win back the House of Representatives, announced a multimedia campaign Thursday with Southerland, who has been dubbed a “tea party insider” by the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, as the main target.

Gwen Graham, who is running for Southerland’s seat in 2014, urged the congressman to donate his congressional salary to charity until a budget is passed to keep the government open.

“I think that would be the right statement to make, when literally hundreds of thousands of Americans aren’t being paid,” said Graham, a Leon County Democrat whose father is former Florida Gov. Bob Graham. “Southerland talks about special benefits not being available for members of Congress, and it is special to be able to behave like children and still keep their jobs.”

Graham described the shutdown as a “human disaster,” citing it as a budgetary issue and not an issue with the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare.

“People are fed up with Congress acting like children,” she said. “We need to fund the government and get the doors back open, get the parks back open and get the people back to work.”

Southerland, however, maintained the House has passed a budget every year he’s held the seat.

“The fact is, each and every year we have passed a budget, but it has been Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats who have refused to do so,” Southerland said.

Southerland noted the country has instead been operating through a continuing resolution with what he called “ridiculously irresponsible” spending limits.

“We are going bankrupt,” he said. “That’s where we are.”

In response to Graham’s pay challenge, Southerland said he also has co-sponsored a bill to withhold his Congressional pay during the shutdown.

Southerland urged people to connect with his office and other lawmakers to weigh in on the issue.

“I think when you fight for a principle that every American should be treated equally, I think that’s a moral issue,” he said. “What happens to America if we become a country where we have special interests? Freedom doesn’t look like that.”

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